Pigs on the wing: running swine flu (H1N1) thread

Wife had it two weeks ago. It was brutal on her. You name a symptom, she had it. We went as far as to sleep in separate rooms for a few nights and I bought her surgical masks to wear.

Somehow I've avoided getting it. Obviously it hits everyone differently, but this is not one I want to catch just so I get some immunity.

On a slight tangent, it's been quite remarkable to watch the federal and provincial governments up here try to figure out how to vaccinate everybody. Gong!

 

My doctor made me get the seasonal flu shot after never having had one in my life. She said as soon as they get more H1N1 shots in, I have to get that, too. I am, however, 38 weeks pregnant and because that may be why they're pushing me so hard to get them because no one needs to get the flu and then go into labor and have to do that with the flu running one's body.

 

Local volleyball coach has it, told me after the interview and I shook her hand that she may have to coach with a surgical mask at regionals.
Thanks coach, you're a real peach.

 

Pete, I respect where you're coming from, but you are playing Russian Roulette with your unborn child by no one getting the shot. I'm not sick, but because people in my house are, I've been told to stay away from my pregnant coworker, at least until she gets the shot next week. One of our special prayers in church on Sunday was for a pregnant woman who contracted H1N1, caught pneumonia, and lost the baby as a result.

Any side effect of the vaccine isn't even in the same ballpark as actually catching the disease. There's a reason pregnant women (and their families) have the shot available to them when no one else can get it.

 

I can't recall the last time I had a flu shot, and I never get the flu. I get a cold once a year, but nothing I can't overcome in a day or two.

Still, that won't stop me from wearing latex gloves and a surgical mask and telling every motherfucker at work with a kid or pregnant wife to stay the fuck home and away from us.

 

Just playing devil's advocate, but H1N1 has not been proved to be any more deadly than the seasonal flu, of which 36,000 Americans die each year.

And, sure, I suppose we know the possible outcomes of my wife getting H1N1 while pregnant - those outcomes include those related to the unborn child.

But, what are the possible outcomes of my unborn child receiving a vaccination that was rushed to market in eight months and has not clinic tests available for those vaccinations including adjuvants? (yes, I know there are non-adjuvanted vaccines available).

And when I say outcomes, I mean one, 10, 20 years down the road. No one knows.

At least if my wife and kid and unborn child get sick now, we can treat it. We can't treat some genealogical fuckup they may get from receiving a shot.

 

Pete,
if your family is normally a "no flu shot family" then that's fine. No, I don't think the swine flu carries any extra risk. Except it seems if you come in contact with it you'll get it, which I don't think happens with the normal flu. But the H1N1 vaccine, according to our pediatrician, has exactly the same ingrediants as the normal flu shot, except for the unique virus strain. That eased my mind when it came to the no-trial worries. I think they're exaggerated.

But if you and others who normally avoid shots sit this one too, I have no problem with that.

 

Pete, there is absolutely ZERO scientific proof that vaccines cause "genealogical fuckups." None at all, no matter what Jenny McCarthy and Suzanne Somers say. (Not saying that's who you're listening to, but I sure see those names cited a lot.) For autism, for example, people have jumped on the easy explanation that vaccines must cause it because the symptoms start creeping in around the same time period that the vaccine schedule gets more intense. But correlation does not always equal causation.

As for the shot being "rushed," that's hardly the case. Every year the CDC, WHO and others identify seasonal flu strains and create vaccines based on those. That's the reason "I got the flu after the flu shot" -- you got a different strain of flu than what the vaccine was for. If the shot was being "rushed," there would be a lot more of it. The problem with distributing vaccines now is that they're growing it far slower than expected. CDC, working with the manufacturers, is really being very careful about what gets out there.

As for the down-the-road risk, I acknowledge there is a history of drugs that seemed OK at the time that later on caused unexpected problems. But the H1N1 shot is being developed with 50-year-old technology. As another poster mentioned, the only difference is the strain of flu you're getting protected against. And there have been clinical tests for the H1N1 shot. If they're being "rushed," it's because of the emergency situation.

As for the death rate, seasonal flu is higher because the deaths are normally to weak, frail seniors. What's different about H1N1 is that it's striking dead otherwise strong children. Many have had underlying conditions, but some have not. All I know is, my 12-year-old was hit A LOT harder by H1N1 then my 4-year-old.

To me, this is a bird-in-the-hand, two-in-the-bush scenario if you're talking about future fears. Right now, you have the very real possibility of your wife losing the baby if she gets ill. As I mentioned, I was told to stay away from my pregnant coworker, even though I am showing no symptoms, just because I have people sick at home.

It's your decision, obviously, and point is less to argue with what you're doing than my own rant against vaccine hysteria. Vaccines have virtually wiped out so many diseases, yet some are coming back because people (who never knew the trauma of those diseases) are suddenly convinced that vaccines are evil. It cracks me up when someone like Bill Maher, who makes a big deal out of not worshipping a god no one could ever prove exists, takes it on faith over scientific evidence about the dangers of vaccines.

 

My sister's whole family has had it. My mother was exposed to it, but a doctor friend gave her something called TamiFlu and she's the only one there not to get it, and it's been more than two weeks. I have no idea if the TamiFlu is a coincidence or not.

At the daycare my kids go to they are washing hands every 30 minutes.

 

Here's my thinking, I don't think people get the seasonal flu shot to "avoid being killed by the ful." I think they get the shot to "avoid the inconvenience of getting sick." At least that's how it seems to me.

I never hear anyone say, "man, I need the flu vaccine or I'm gonna die." But yet I'm hearing people say "I need the H1N1 vaccine or I'm gonna die."

Why?

 

I had it, and so did my 4-year-old son. Symptoms weren't too bad for either of us -- general fatigue, headache, body aches, etc.

He had more of a fever than I did.

Still, I felt bad enough that I could tell it'd put the hurt on someone with underlying conditions.

 

Because, by and large, your body has at least *some* immunity to most influenza viruses.

This one's new, (thus you hear the term "novel" tossed at it) and it's making otherwise healthy people have odd reactions — in some folks, their immune systems are going apeshit trying to fight it, and it's killing them.

And you *do* hear older people saying "I need to get the flu shot or else..."

Heard it from my grandmother every damn year.